My normal running routine, which I need to get back to, is waking up at 5 am and getting on the treadmill or out the door hit the streets/trail/gym. It is super hard to get myself motivated at this point in my life, but when I do its exciting. I could feel the trail calling me, I had planning for 2 hours or running on the trails and trying to get up to at 20 miles before the family woke up from their warm and cozy beds. I knew it was going to be cold, its December it SHOULD be cold. I didn’t check the forecast, I just was going to get up, suit up my second skin and out the door! Dumb…that was dumb.
Motivation when the weather doesn’t do what it should be doing? How do you defeat the feeling of utter annoyance when you wake up and either it is too cold, like this morning for me, raining, icy, or just not your day? Today I was faced with the decision, go out for a run and probably literally freeze my ass off, or BRICK in the basement. Guess which one I went with? Guess, go on, I’ll give you a second. You’re probably thinking, hey I bet he ran and suffered in silence as the Cadre of GORUCK say. You’d be wrong. The cold is not my friend, I have to be bundled to the gills to go out in weather that is 12 degrees out there, but I like to wear as little clothing as possible when I run, sooooooo the struggle was real and the struggle won. Stephen would probably go out in shorts and a hat and think everything is fine, me I’d be miserable.
The question still remains, how do you then motivate yourself after being let down? If you are like me and prefer to be outside but can’t get there and have the option of a treadmill, then give it the ten minute rule. Even when my children are in the basement with me I will give it the ten minute rule. I put on the treadmill and run for 10 minutes, if it seems like the kids are going to give me more, I will go for another 10 minutes, and then 10 more minutes. This rule was worked even when I can’t find the motivation, 10 minutes on the treadmill and by that time you can already tell if you’re into it or not. Usually, 9/10 you are into it and will keep it up. The one time out of ten you have to be either really lazy or really sick to not continue on. How does it work with kids? Every ten minutes I remind them I am running and I need this time today or I’ll go crazy, or that if they allow me to have this time, then I will get them popcorn or chocolate, ANYTHING, just to give me that time. Every ten minutes and by the time it’s been 40 minutes I have had a good run and am feeling great again. Only able to make it ten minutes total? Well, that’s short, I know, but at least it was maybe a mile.
The added bonus of working out indoors is the fact that I have all my gear at my disposal. Today, BRICK workout with an added weight of 45# on my back (GR1 tightly snitched with a weighted plate)…probably gonna incline it too!!! Somedays, indoor workouts can destroy what you have planned outside, but being outside just has so much more appeal then my basement!
Happy RUNNING!!
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